Chapter 46 — Summer After the Rain

Linh's mother decided to re-record the song she used to sing with her father in the past. She is not a professional singer, but people still enjoy listening because of her honest, unvarnished voice. Linh personally created a short video using old photos from the theater, being careful not to use any frames that her mother had not agreed to make public.

That song is played before each screening as a small newly formed ritual. Some people shed tears when listening, some people burst out laughing because Linh's mother sang completely out of tune in the last chorus. Minh said that it is that difference in rhythm that makes the song have its own identity, not confused with any other version.

Mom asked Linh if she still hated her. Linh honestly replied that there are days when she still feels that way, but that's not the case all her life. Mom nodded, saying that was the most honest answer she had ever heard.

Together, mother and daughter restored an old photo of their parents standing on the riverbank. The photo was quite scratched, but no one wanted to completely smooth out those scratches. Linh said those scratches made her father's eyes in the photo look less distant.

The theater organized a small music night to raise funds to build a new library upstairs. Aunt Tam volunteered to sing a few songs. Hau played the drums but kept going out of tune. Minh had to run to the stage to fix the strings right in the middle of the show. The audience below laughed and applauded enthusiastically.

The music night was organized to raise funds for a small library corner that is gradually forming. Aunt Tam chose all the old songs, saying that she could sing any song that could be sung, it didn't have to be at the right pitch to make it tiring. Hau took on the task of drumming but always got into the beat a little earlier than the band. Every time he made a mistake, Minh turned to adjust the strings as if the sound could pull him back into the correct rhythm.

Linh stood at the door welcoming guests all evening. A group of students brought a whole box of donated books, a bus driver donated an old radio, and the girl who drew safety maps years ago now brought a painting of the Ha Vang theater standing firmly on a large boat. The girl explained that if the water rose again, the theater would carry everyone to safety.

“The theater doesn't know how to drive a boat,” Linh said, laughing at her naive imagination.

“So it's Uncle Minh who drives.”

Minh heard that sentence and hastily declared that he only knew how to ride a motorbike and make bad decisions. The whole theater yard burst into laughter.

In the middle of the performance, the electricity in the neighborhood suddenly flickered for unknown reasons. All eyes turned to Minh with suspicion. He raised both hands in the air, affirming that this time it was absolutely not his fault. Tan checked the circuit breaker again and discovered that an outside electrical connection was damp from rainwater. A group of quick-thinking volunteers used their phone flashlights to keep the performance going. Aunt Tam continued to sing without a speaker, her voice was hoarse but surprisingly resonant.

Linh looked at her mother sitting next to Mrs. Nam, the two of them took turns passing the book to record fund collection. Phuc suddenly appeared at the theater gate, standing quietly, not daring to step inside right away. Tuan proactively went out to talk to him. A moment later, both of them carried a box of old books together to contribute. No one in the group asked clearly who convinced whom in this matter.

Linh no longer thinks of summer as simply a season of loss and pain like before. It is also the season when people learn to sing again, even when their voices are not perfect.

At the end of the music night, everyone took turns writing on a large wooden board placed in the middle of the stage. Some people wrote "I'm back", some people wrote "Don't let anyone erase our names", some people simply drew a small chair. Linh wrote in it the words: "A place can live when people are willing to contribute their own noise." The music night was not perfect, but it made people who only knew how to sit silently dare to sing together falsely but sincerely.

Linh sat down to count the funds with her mother after the program ended, this time not a single penny was missing. Aunt Tam said the remainder would be used to buy new books, Hau asked to keep a small amount to buy another drum set. Mai requested a full record as usual. The whole group laughed, but still seriously took the minutes according to the correct procedure.

Before the concert had finished cleaning up completely, a boy hurriedly ran in to report that someone was stranded on the riverbank. Minh reflexively tried to take the car and rush out, but Linh promptly held his hand and asked the boy if he had called a professional rescue team. The boy nodded in confirmation, saying the trapped person was a fish seller who was trying his best to pull his boat ashore in the middle of a fast-flowing stream. No one in the group rushed out in panic anymore. After opening the safety locker to get a flashlight and life jacket, Mai immediately called the saved duty phone number.

Ten minutes later, a professional rescue team arrived promptly. Minh and everyone stood from the theater yard to shine a light to help from afar, not arbitrarily diving into the water alone as they often did before. The fish seller was brought to shore safely, with only minor scratches on his leg. He thanked him profusely, then asked permission to sit and rest in the theater lobby. Linh brought him water and listened to him tell him that that small boat was the only asset that fed his whole family.

After everyone had left, Hau curiously asked why this time Linh didn't let Minh run away first like before. She replied that real courage does not lie in acting fastest; It lies in knowing the limits of what you can do without making others have to work harder to save you. Minh heard that and pretended to be seriously hurt. Linh gave him a Band-Aid, joking that words sometimes need timely first aid.

The next morning, the fishmonger returned to the theater with a small box of fresh fish to thank. Linh said the theater is not in the habit of accepting gifts in exchange for its help. The whole group agreed to sell the fish at the upcoming fundraising market, clearly stating the origin and equally dividing the proceeds into the common riverbank repair fund. He nodded in agreement, saying this was the first time someone refused his gift and still made him feel completely respected.

Hau personally made a fish price list, but misspelled the name of a familiar fish. Mai forced him to fix it immediately, and Mrs. Nam took the opportunity to cook a pot of fish soup for customers to taste before buying. The market that day lasted longer than originally expected, but at the end of the day they had a decent amount of money and a list of people registered to participate in the water safety class that was about to open. Linh realized that Ha Vang was gradually connecting seemingly unrelated stories, just like the tangled electrical wires in the small projection room of the theater.

That evening, after the market was cleaned up and the lights in the theater lobby were turned off by half to save electricity, Linh sat alone and watched the video of the rescue of the fish seller. She noticed how the group coordinated smoothly, no one stepped on anyone else's work, no one had to shout orders in the middle of a panic, all movements went smoothly as if they had been practiced before. She thought of the flood night eighteen years ago, of the image of her father alone running around the theater calling each family's name in the dark, with no support system, no one around to share that burden with him, only the sound of rain and the roar of water responding.

She called her mother that night, her voice choked up, telling her those thoughts. Mom was silent for a long time, only hearing the soft breathing through the phone, then said that perhaps that was what her father always wanted the most but never had the chance to do: a community that knows how to protect each other without needing a lone hero to take on everything. After listening, Linh felt a quiet sense of pride rising in her heart, not because she had accomplished anything great, but because she believed that if her father were still alive, he would be very happy to see that Ha Vang Theater has now become the exact place he once wished to build, a place where no one has to shoulder the fear of an entire community alone anymore.